By Torri R. Oats

Every year, Vanity Fair publishes its version of the up-and-coming superstars of tomorrow — the famous “Hollywood Issue.”  Too often African-American actors and actresses are excluded because of many factors including lack of exposure and good, meaty roles.  But rest assured, there is a new generation of African-American talents waiting for their star turn.  Here are just a few we should watch closely, as they are poised to make their mark in Hollywood in the coming years. They have the style, they have the look, and they have talent in spades. Pretty soon the mainstream media will wake up and take notice — but you heard it hear first. Here are the Top 7 Black Actors & Actresses Whose Careers Are Heating Up.

Jurnee Smollett

It’s hard to believe that Jurnee Smollett has been in “the biz” for nearly twenty years.  Although, it wasn’t until 1997 that Ms. Smollett, who was a new face to most of us, burst on the scene with a scene-stealing, star-making performance as Eve Batiste in “Eve’s Bayou.”  Throughout her career, she has been a consistently solid performer in television and film — always interesting, always unique, always Jurnee. When we spoke to Shawn Edwards of iloveblackmovies.com, he was effusive with praise for Ms. Smollett. “I really, really like her,” he told The Atlanta Post. “She was great in ‘The Great Debaters,’ but it fizzled.  She hasn’t had that major role to take her to the next level.”  Despite this silver screen setback, this gifted actress has more than paid her dues and with several awards under her belt, including three Image awards, she is well-positioned to dominate the scene in the future.  Ms. Smollett is currently on the television show, “The Defenders.”

(Madame Noire) — Would you say you’re an ambitious woman? Do you go off the beaten path to get out your dreams, or are you taking what you can get to help pay the bills and that’s it? It’s understandable with unemployment rates skyrocketing to tire of looking for your dream job and just do what you need to do to get things done: light bill paid, rent covered, food in the fridge. But before you assume your degree is going to go to waste and fall into whatever comes your way (a la Tetris), know that you don’t have to give up–you’ll just have to hustle harder than before. Here are five things you need to keep in mind while you fill out job applications on the low and plan your next move to get the job you really, REALLY want. Never say never folks.

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By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

Have you received a job offer? While this is great news in a difficult market, don’t let the slow economy be a reason for selling yourself short. You can still negotiate a high salary, rather than accept a decent offer out of desperation. How?

Researchers have found that even in this competitive employment field, asking for a sum that might seem absurdly high is the best negotiation tactic. The reason? Something called “anchoring,” which sets a price point in the mind of a hiring manager regarding your perceived worth. By throwing out an extremely high “anchor” amount — even in jest — discussions proceed from there instead of a more expected figure. The result is the potential to garner an income that is almost ten percent higher than could be achieved through asking for remuneration in the normal range. Time.com reports on this unexpected phenomenon:

Todd Thorsteinson, a University of Idaho psychology and communications professor, recently published the results of a few salary experiments in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. (Hat tip to Harvard Business Review and lifehacker.)

In the experiments, participants entered into a simulated job salary negotiation—some volunteers were job candidates, others hiring managers. Would-be candidates previously had annual salaries of $29,000 and were offered new jobs as administrative assistants. When the topic of salary came up, some participants were instructed to kiddingly request $100,000—and those who did so wound up getting 9% higher offers, on average ($35,385 vs. $32,463), than those who played it straight.

By Nola Ogunro

Lack of education is often cited as a main reason for higher rates of African-American unemployment. Yet getting an education to further your career can be a catch-22. Many people cannot afford to take a four-year break from working with little guarantee that they will be able to find a job with their bachelor’s. But this is not a reason to avoid getting a practical education. There are many lucrative careers for which qualified applicants will be in high demand in the coming years, which only require a two-year degree or vocational training. Here are some of the highest paying jobs that require only an associate degree according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Four of the highest paying jobs are in healthcare — and almost 600,000 registered nurses will be needed in the coming years. Are some of these jobs that only require a two-year degree right for you? Read on to decide.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

If you thought it was hard to find a job in general, let alone a job that makes workers of the entire color spectrum feel welcomed and accepted, think how much harder it is to find a well-paying, full-time gig that offers an understanding and productive environment for those in the LGBT community to work. To help make an already difficult process of finding a job much easier, our friends over at Black Enterprise compiled a list of the 40 best places to work as a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered individual, and how/if they rank on the Human Rights Campaigns’ compilation of the ‘Best Places To Work.’ Update those resumes folks!

To see the entire list and even offer your own suggestions of great places to work as a member of the LGBT Community, check out Black Enterprise.

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

With the summer coming, many African-Americans in the corporate world will be heading to various locations nationwide to partake in the conference season, during which many professional organizations leverage great weather to combine business with pleasure. Attending conferences is an excellent way to build your network, which is critical to current and future job searches. For entrepreneurs, meeting new people is essential for finding customers. If you plan to partake in one of these premiere meet-and-greets, don’t just show up with business cards and hope for the best. Gisele Marcus, Harvard MBA and networking expert, offers her top tips for getting the maximum benefit from your conference investment. Make your registration and travel costs worth the expenditure with her easily-applied advice:

1. Set an objective for conference attendance.
This could be to find a mentor or meet new customers.

2. Plan your schedule beforehand.
Many things occur at conferences simultaneously, so use the information on the conference site to determine which panels and social events are most important — and schedule some down time!

3. Find out which attendees you want to meet.
It’s great to let chance lead you to new contacts, but ideally you will also plan a list of panelists and guests to connect with. This will narrow down the flow of new contacts to navigate, and ensure potential contacts are in alignment with your goals.

4. Research the persons or organizations you’re interested in.
Once you know who you want to meet, or what companies you’ll seek introduction to, do a thorough web search to learn important details about these entities. Knowledge of these parties can serve as the common basis for striking up conversations.

Like these tips? Read the rest of Gisele Marcus’ advice on Your Black World, and leave your comments below.  What are some of your favorite ways to make the most of a conference? Can you recommend some interesting, approaching affairs? Leave your comments below!

(Wall Street Journal) — Can working hard at the office invigorate a marriage?  A new study suggests that for working mothers at least, that may be the case.  Working moms tend to be happier with their marriages when they are shouldering heavy workloads on the job, says a four-year study of 169 couples published recently in the Journal of Family Psychology. One reason may be that when working moms’ workloads increase, their husbands tend to help out more at home, researchers suggest.

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"End of Anger" Author Ellis Cose

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

Race and the workplace have received a 21^st century reassessment from the black perspective in the new book, “The End of Anger: A New Generation’s Take on Race and Rage.” Written by former Newsweek columnist Ellis Cose, “The End of Anger” maps out the differences that African-Americans perceive regarding our potential for achievement in the work world.  To research his book, Cose surveyed 193 Harvard MBAs and hundreds of graduates of A Second Chance, a program that helps disadvantaged African-American students attend private schools. He also spoke in depth with some subjects to gather more details about how blacks see their futures.

The underlying question that inspired Cose’s writing is: In the age of Obama, is the workplace truly colorblind ?  The answers he found were more complicated than reassuring. Cose discovered that there are four distinct segments of the African-American population with varying degrees of trust in workplace fairness – and that these groups can be at odds with each other. T he New York Daily News reports:

Cose divided his respondents into age groups: Gen (as in generation) 1 Fighters (born in or before 1944; Gen 2 Dreamers (1945-1969); Gen 3 Believers (1970-1995) and Gen 4 Reapers (1996-present day).

Young blacks are far more optimistic about their opportunities in this country than their parents and grandparents ever were.

“The world that people who are under 40 are inheriting is very different from the world that people over 65 inherited,” Cose said.  ”That is even more the case with people who are younger than that.  At the same time that whites are becoming more open and more progressive, blacks in some interesting sense are becoming more optimistic. And the two have a lot to do with one another.”

Those in Gen 3 and 4 believe that blacks face a completely even playing field in terms of job opportunities, while those in Gen 1 and 2 still believe racism plays a large part in preventing our financial parity.  But what is more interesting is that “The End of Anger” studies blacks’ perceptions of ourselves, instead of typically looking at employment data for our community, which tells a more external story.  Both perspectives give important keys to understanding the reality of our social situation.

Recent studies show that blacks with a college education find it harder to find jobs than their equally educated white peers.  In addition, industries such as advertising are actually considered more segregated than they were thirty years ago. While Gen 3 and 4 might see the playing field as equal, there are still many key professions, such as construction, that largely exclude African-Americans because of systemic circumstances. Sorry, youngsters, racism is still real.

At the same time, one always wonders how much blacks could achieve if fewer of us held within ourselves the internal belief that discrimination is so pervasive that such barriers are insurmountable. Cose’s book shakes us awake as it asks us to examine the internalized racism that undermines many of our best efforts because fear of discrimination is ever-present.  The reduction of this fear in the younger generations gives us hope that the discouragement it causes can someday be vanquished.

The election of President Obama does not illustrate the end of racism; it clearly demonstrates that a black person in America has more opportunities than ever to achieve. Regardless of how we see ourselves, and the continuing racism of today, these are still the greatest times ever to be upwardly mobile. The next step is to find the balance between seeing racism everywhere, as do Gen 1 and 2, and being defenselessly naive like Gen 3 and 4.

Through penning “The End of Anger,” Ellis Cose reminds us that accurately perceiving ourselves within the social arena while remaining optimistic is a critical next step for professional African-Americans as we move ahead.

Alexis Garrett Stodghill writes for News One, Clutch Magazine and Coco & Creme, and helped launch BlackPlanet.com. Follow Alexis on Twitter.

(The NEIU Independent) — Astrophysics is defined as an area of science which applies physical laws discovered on Earth to phenomena throughout the cosmos. Originated by Sir Isaac Newton, the father of physics, this area of Science has been the way in which many meaningful discoveries were made regarding astronomical science. Dr. Beth A. Brown is one African-American woman whose contributions to Astrophysics are ones for this history books.

Beth Brown started her life with loving parents, a younger brother, and her cousin in beautiful Roanoke, VA. She was always a studious student who enjoyed the wonder of Science. In high school, she was a high achiever and was challenged with Advanced Placement courses.  It was here where her participation in science fairs and research into all facets of Science were truly nurtured. Despite her love for science, it was neither in elementary, nor high school where she honed her love for Astronomy. Her love affair with the universe was mostly fantasy/fiction based in her younger years. She was an avid Star Wars, and Star Trek fan, and loved watching shows and movies about space.

Dr. Brown found her passion in Astrophysics as a student at Howard University, in Washington, D.C. Under the tutelage of her very caring academic mentor – Dr. Brown honed her skills in Astrophysics and learned how to ask relevant questions in regards to her research. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa Suma Cum Laude, and paved a well etched road of achievement for young African American women who might showcase an interest or aptitude in Science.

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There’s a lot of talk these days about the careers and industries which are being phased out of the American economy. Globalization has made it so that manufacturing jobs and other work traditionally considered “blue collar” are shipped overseas. These changes demand that Americans reassess their outlook when it comes to careers.

What’s one thing that not going out of style soon? Computer engineering. Technology is the backbone of our growth and innovation so it’s only fitting that more and more college bound students are investing themselves in engineering programs. Here is a list, researched by U.S. News and World Report, of the top 10 computer engineering programs in the country.